Research

In my research I have studied learning and development in organized activities outside-of-school, ranging from tutoring programs to voluntary youth groups.  By analyzing the social practices of these distinct intermediary spaces (e.g., informal relationships between youth and adults, collaborative work, project-based activities), I hope to better understand how learning can be organized in ways that lead to meaningful intellectual and social outcomes for students.

I am especially interested in settings where urban youth work together with adults to change systemic inequalities through school reform, action research, and community change projects.  Programs like these seek to empower students who have traditionally been marginalized from political participation.  The way that young people are positioned socially in these groups contrasts sharply with typical public schools, in which these youth are rarely engaged in decision-making or their voices heard in policy discourse.  Participants are expected to think critically, develop a sense of themselves as agents of change, and learn how to act competently in the public arena.  As one student remarked to me after working on an environmental justice campaign, “I’m looking at the world from a completely different angle now.”  Ultimately, these are settings where youth are encouraged to imagine what kind of world they want to live in and at the same time develop the intellectual tools and social resources to realize that vision.

My interest in studying learning processes stems in part from my experiences as an educator with the San Francisco Conservation Corps.  I observed students perform poorly in school but solve complex intellectual tasks when engaged in community work projects restoring green spaces or producing video documentaries.  I became interested in learning how schools could better engage students in intellectually challenging tasks that were relevant to their everyday lives.

My publications have discussed youth-adult research partnerships, youth civic engagement, and the cultural influences on identity development.  Selections include:

Kirshner, B., O’Donoghue, J., & McLaughlin, M.W. (in press). Youth-adult research collaborations: Bringing youth voice to the research process. In Mahoney, J. L., Larson, R. W., & Eccles, J. S. (Eds.) Organized activities as contexts of development: Extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kirshner, B., Strobel, K., & Fernandez, M. (2003).  Critical civic engagement among urban youth.  Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 2(1).

Kirshner, B. (2003). Reflecting on moral development and education [Review of the book, Education in the Moral Domain (2001), L. Nucci, New York: Cambridge University Press].  Mind, Culture, and Activity, 10(3), 260-265.

Nasir, N. & Kirshner, B. (2003).  The cultural construction of moral and civic identities. Applied Developmental Science, 7, 138-147.  

Kirshner, B., O’Donoghue, J., & McLaughlin, M.W., Eds. (2002). Youth participation: Improving institutions and communities.  New Directions for Youth Development: Theory, Practice and Research, no. 96, Winter 2003.  San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

O’Donoghue, J., Kirshner, B., & McLaughlin, M.W. (2002).  Moving youth participation forward.  New Directions for Youth Development: Theory, Practice and Research, no. 96, Winter 2003.  San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.